University of Wisconsin Group Ends Drug Firm Funds

MILWAUKEE, April 21, 2011 -- A University of Wisconsin School of
Medicine and Public Health organization that has been criticized
for its advocacy of controversial uses of narcotic painkillers says
it has decided to stop taking money from the drug industry.

UW made the announcement after an April 3 investigative report
in the Journal Sentinel revealed that its UW Pain & Policy
Studies Group had taken about $2.5 million over a decade from
companies that make opioids. The money came while the group pushed
for what critics say was a pharmaceutical industry agenda not
supported by rigorous science: the liberalized use of narcotic
painkillers for non-cancer chronic pain.

While the expanded use of the medications boosted drug company
sales, it also has been linked to a burgeoning epidemic of opioid
painkiller abuse.

Just this week, federal officials announced a plan to curtail
the epidemic, including efforts to reduce misprescribing and misuse
of the drugs.

In concert with the White House, the Food and Drug
Administration announced a new risk reduction plan for
extended-release opioids, such as OxyContin, which often are
misprescribed, misused and abused. The plan will focus on educating
doctors about proper pain management and patient selection and
improving patient awareness about how to use the drugs safely.

By far the biggest chunk of money the UW Pain Group got was from
Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin. In 2007 the company was
accused by the U.S. Department of Justice of fraudulently
misleading doctors by claiming, with no proof, that the drug was
less addictive, less likely to cause withdrawal and less subject to
abuse than other pain medications.

The company and three of its executives pleaded guilty to
various charges. Court-imposed fines and restitution payments
totaled $635 million.

Between 1999 and 2010, Purdue paid the UW Pain Group about $1.6
million, according to university records obtained by the Journal
Sentinel through an open records request.

The UW Pain Group may have helped pave the way for OxyContin's
widespread use.

On several occasions, the newspaper found that research papers
and medical articles written by UW Pain Group officials often did
not disclose the group's funding from drug companies or that those
individuals were paid personally by drug companies.

Emails to chancellor

In response to the news report, members of organizations
concerned about opioid abuse sent emails to UW Chancellor Biddy
Martin complaining about the UW Pain Group.

One of the emails came from Ada Giudice-Tompson, a woman in
Ontario whose 29-year-old son died in 2004 of an opioid overdose.
Giudice-Tompson also is vice president of Advocates for the Reform
of Prescription Opioids.

She said her son, who had been treated for kidney stones, was
prescribed 13,000 pills over 15 months.

"The most difficult part is knowing how Universities such as
yours have terribly misdirected the medical profession," she wrote
to Martin. "The medical community has received biased and
manipulated data supporting the liberal use of prescription
opioids. What's even worse is the motive behind the pushing of
narcotics -- 'profit and greed.' This was no honest mistake.

"Chancellor Martin, I ask you to look into your heart and soul
and help stop the epidemic of death and addiction caused by
prescribed opioids."

In response to Giudice-Tompson's email and others, the UW Pain
Group issued a written statement Wednesday saying that it promotes
the idea of balance, that opioids must be available to those who
need them and that misuse, abuse and diversion must be
controlled.

Separately, on April 5, two days after the story ran, a doctor
who heads another group that is trying to curtail inappropriate use
of opioids emailed the World Health Organization, asking it to end
its relationship with the UW Pain Group.

"Many public health experts believe that aggressive promotion of
opioids for chronic non-cancer pain and deregulation of physician
prescribing are the main causes of this public health disaster,"
Andrew Kolodny, a New York psychiatrist and president of Physicians
for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, said in his email to WHO. "The
Wisconsin group has played a prominent role in this effort on
behalf of pharmaceutical companies."

On April 11, Cecilia Sepulveda, a doctor with WHO in Geneva,
Switzerland, replied, saying WHO was looking into the matter.

Sepulveda and other WHO officials could not be reached for
comment.

Last week, UW issued a statement on behalf of Robert Golden,
dean of the medical school, saying the money the UW Pain Group got
from drug companies came as unrestricted gifts that conformed to
university regulations and standards.

Golden's statement said that in September 2010, the UW Pain
Group successfully reapplied to be a WHO collaborating center so
that it could continue to address the lack of access to opioids for
pain relief around the world.

"(The UW Pain Group) decided to meet the WHO's new conflict of
interest standards and to no longer accept funding from industry
involved in the sale and marketing of opioids," Golden wrote. "This
decision was made prior to the recent newspaper story, which
described past support but failed to mention the decision to no
longer accept industry support."

Drug industry records

In January, the Journal Sentinel first requested records of drug
industry funding of the UW Pain Group. Since then, the paper made
several requests to interview officials with the group about its
funding, including questions that also were sent to public affairs
personnel with the medical school.

At no time did the university say that the UW Pain Group had
decided to stop taking money from companies that make narcotic
painkillers.

Lisa Brunette, a UW spokeswoman, said the issue of the UW Pain
Group halting its drug industry funding was not divulged before the
Journal Sentinel story was published because the paper never asked
about it.

Asked Wednesday whether the UW Pain Group had stopped taking any
funds from companies that make or market opioids as of September
2010, the UW Pain Group said it certified to WHO "that it would not
accept funds from companies that have a commercial interest in
opioids."

But, it added, "any existing contracts between (the UW Pain
Group) and those companies ended when those contracts expired and
any new funding from those companies will not be accepted."

The UW Pain Group also said it could not say whether its staff
members or officials personally had stopped taking funds from
companies that make narcotic painkillers because the deadline for
them to file personal disclosure forms with the university is April
30.

------

To see more of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, or to subscribe
to the newspaper, go to http://www.jsonline.com.

Drugs.com provides accurate and independent information on more than 24,000 prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines and natural products. This material is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.